Posted:October 24, 2010

The Semantic ‘Gap’

DCMI Has a Unique Role in Next Steps for the Semantic Web

I was very pleased to have presented one of the keynotes at the just concluded DC-2010, DCMI’s International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications, in Pittsburgh, PA. DCMI (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative) is an open organization engaged in the development of interoperable metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models.

I had four main points to share with the audience:

Development of the semantic Web is faced with a “gap” in actual semantics

One component of that “gap” are vetted reference vocabularies that provide the concepts for tagging (via dc:subject) and then aligning disparate content sources on the Web

A second component of the “gap” consists of accurate mapping predicates that can represent the often approximate matches and overlaps of this heterogeneous content, and

DCMI has a unique role to play, based on its members’ authority and experience, to provide the leadership (and possible services) for plugging these gaps moving forward.

As I had anticipated, I had a blast at the conference and walked away much impressed with the passion and intelligence of its dedicated members. Though my first, this will certainly not be my last DCMI conference. Thanks to all for the invite and the great conversations and kind welcoming!